USF Chapter 9: More Shocking

In truth, every class had a smaller adjacent classroom, but the small classrooms had never been open to the public. Lin Ye didn’t know how Jiang Lian had gotten the key to the small classroom, but thinking about the rumors that if you offended him, you’d end up getting “cut” by the editor, it wasn’t so surprising that Jiang Lian had the key.

Since he had a background even the production team wouldn’t dare to offend, why would he care about the words Lin Ye had casually blurted out about reporting to the production crew?

Lin Ye was puzzled for a moment, but then nonchalantly shifted his thoughts. The process didn’t matter, good results was what he wanted. Right now, he should be thinking of an excuse to avoid Xia Dongchan later in the evening.

The whole afternoon was a mess. During vocal class, he was slightly distracted and was even called out and criticized by the vocal instructor. Lin Ye pretended to be humble and sincere, accepting all the criticism. After turning around and returning to the group, he let the words go in one ear and out the other, not taking them to heart.

It wasn’t that he didn’t respect the instructor, but he simply had no extraordinary talent for singing. His vocal condition could only be described as average, and his vocal range was rather narrow. This naturally led him to focus entirely on dancing when it came between singing and dancing.

Surprisingly, what he had been worrying about all day was easily resolved by night. 

On the way to dinner with Xia Dongchan, the other suddenly spoke up, “I’m planning to stay up late in the classroom tonight. Do you want to join me?”

Lin Ye shook his head and said, “I want to head back early.”

Xia Dongchan abruptly stopped, turned around, and squinted at him, “Lin Ye, are you really planning to just get eliminated in the first round, then drag your luggage out of here?”

Lin Ye didn’t answer directly but instead casually smiled while sticking his hands in his pockets, “Isn’t that better? You’d have one less competitor.”

Xia Dongchan tilted his head and responded straightforwardly, “Lin Ye, to me, only the top twenty are my competitors. I won’t allow myself to be eliminated outside the top twenty.”

With a grin, he suddenly linked his arm with Lin Ye’s, and his words cut straight to the point, “Lin Ye, I don’t believe you’ll be satisfied leaving here in the first round.”

Lin Ye’s expression froze for a moment, but then he smiled, “You’re right. I’m actually a bit unwilling. But,” he lowered his eyes, kicked a small stone in his path, and it seemed like he was asking Xia Dongchan or perhaps just speaking to himself, “It just feels like there’s still something missing.”

He thought to himself, perhaps it was something that would make him truly determined to stay here and fight for.

At 9:50 pm, Lin Ye went to Class A’s small classroom. The small classroom had two doors, one leading to Class A’s main classroom and the other connecting to the corridor on the other side of the building. Lin Ye bypassed the first door and went through the second.

The curtains by the window were drawn tight, so he couldn’t see if anyone was inside. Lin Ye knocked on the door but found it wasn’t completely shut. He entered the room, closed the door behind him, and saw Jiang Lian sitting on the floor, glancing up at him. He raised an eyebrow in surprise before saying, “Lock the door.”

Lin Ye locked the door as instructed, walked up to Jiang Lian, crouched down in front of him and took off his white baseball cap. He adjusted the flattened hair underneath before handing the cap back to Jiang Lian. “Here, it’s yours.”

Jiang Lian took the cap and tossed it aside. “Do you need to warm up first?”

Lin Ye replied, “I can warm up myself, you don’t need to worry about me.”

He walked up to the mirror and slowly exhaled as he bent backward.

Jiang Lian smirked slightly, stood up, and walked towards him. “Did I say I was going to worry about you?”

Lin Ye still had his hands resting on his legs, not yet letting go, but his body wobbled slightly, and his face quickly turned red. It was as if he wanted to speak, but couldn’t catch his breath.

Jiang Lian extended an arm ,placing it across his waist through the fabric of his shirt , while raising an eyebrow as he objectively remarked, “Lin Ye, you’ve regressed.”

Lin Ye didn’t say anything. Even though he had a good temper, he couldn’t help but curse Jiang Lian twice in his heart. A moment later, he gritted his teeth and squeezed out a sentence: “I ate too much for dinner.”

Jiang Lian replied, “Don’t stuff yourself too full before exercising.”

After saying this, he lifted Lin Ye’s shirt and placed his other hand on his flat, firm stomach. “You didn’t eat too much for dinner, but you sure lie without batting an eye.”

A tickling sensation spread from where Jiang Lian’s palm had made contact, slowly extending from above his belly button.

The arm supporting his waist suddenly exerted force, and Jiang Lian pulled him up. He withdrew his hand and said, “Your waist is fine. Just go ahead and stretch your legs—”

He paused, then glanced at Lin Ye, who was standing still and reaching under his shirt. With a slight frown, Jiang Lian asked, “What are you doing?”

Lin Ye pressed his lips together, looked up, his pupils glowing dark and bright under the light. There was a clear sense of restraint and discomfort in his tone: “My stomach itches.”

Jiang Lian’s eyes narrowed suddenly, and he stayed silent for a long while.

When it came time to stretch, Lin Ye still didn’t understand why he seemed to have offended Jiang Lian. The latter raised his knee against Lin Ye’s back, and the pressure grew heavier with each move.

Lin Ye couldn’t help but grunt in pain.

Jiang Lian paused, then lowered the leg he had raised and, seemingly distracted, squatted down, patting Lin Ye’s face lightly. “Alright, get up.”

Lin Ye got up from the floor, hesitating as he raised a hand to touch the side of his face that Jiang Lian had just patted.

Jiang Lian, standing beside the player, glanced at him and casually said, “Don’t worry, I didn’t have anything dirty on my hands.”

Lin Ye’s expression was slightly odd, and he couldn’t help but ask, “Do you often pat Ming Rang’s face like this too?”

However, he barely managed to get a syllable out before the sound of music flooded in and drowned out his voice. Lin Ye froze for a second, then thought to himself how strange the question had been.

Whether Jiang Lian often patted Ming Rang’s face or not had nothing to do with him.

He had to admit that Jiang Lian was indeed good-looking, even among all the trainees, his appearance was exceptional. But after seeing that face over and over, one would naturally build an immunity to it.

Lin Ye performed the entire theme song dance in front of Jiang Lian. Jiang Lian only corrected him on two or three places where the beats were off and briefly mentioned that he needed to expand the dance moves on the basis of the existing framework, making the movements more visually appealing, while also avoiding too much force.

There was no further feedback after that.

“You don’t have many problems with your dancing. Your basic skills aren’t bad,” Jiang Lian said, rewinding the music to the introduction. “Have you memorized the lyrics?”

Lin Ye froze when he heard the question. “I’ve memorized them.”

Jiang Lian tilted his chin upward. “Then sing along with the accompaniment.”

Lin Ye’s expression was a little subtle, but he still followed the instructions and sang through the theme song.

When it came to the climax, Lin Ye couldn’t hit the notes, and his voice kept teetering on the edge of breaking. Jiang Lian pressed pause and raised an eyebrow, looking at him. “Do you know what your biggest problem is?”

Lin Ye’s face showed a trace of embarrassment. “Singing has always been my weak point.”

“Your narrow vocal range may be innate, but it’s not something that can’t be broadened later on,” Jiang Lian’s voice was low and deep, and the gaze that landed on Lin Ye’s face gradually became sharp. “You can’t delude yourself into thinking you can take the shortcut of getting accepted through a specialized skill in front of the mentors. What you should be thinking about is how to get rid of that flaw. If you want to join Class A, being good at both singing and dancing is the basic requirement.”

“Of course, there’s a second method.” Jiang Lian paused slightly. “You could rely on your fans. But the thing with fans,” he smirked slightly, “Do you even have any now?”

Lin Ye was frozen, his expression somewhat unpleasant.

Seeing the look on his face, Jiang Lian raised the corner of his mouth. He took out his phone to check the time. “I’m heading back.”

Only then did Lin Ye snap back to his senses, silently walking toward the door.

Jiang Lian called out to him, and when Lin Ye turned at the sound, Jiang Lian threw something from his hand.

The item arced through the air, landing perfectly in Lin Ye’s arms but slipped out from between them.

Lin Ye bent down to pick it up and saw that it was a key.

Jiang Lian walked past him, opening the door to leave. “This small classroom is for my use only. If you need it, you can come by yourself.”

Lin Ye didn’t expect this. Holding the key, he stood frozen by the door for a moment. Then, his eyes caught sight of the white baseball cap abandoned in the corner. He suddenly snapped back to his senses, picked up the cap, and rushed out the door.

But after running out of the training building, he didn’t see Jiang Lian’s figure anywhere. Lin Ye, still holding the cap, returned to the small classroom, gasping for breath as he collapsed onto the floor, sprawling out.

The events of the entire night replayed in his mind like a movie. He decided to close his eyes, casually placing Jiang Lian’s baseball cap over his eyes.

When Jiang Lian returned, Ming Rang was lounging on the sofa, casually video chatting with someone. Noticing Jiang Lian entering, he boredly ended the call and spoke, “Back already?”

Jiang Lian threw the key down, glancing at the phone in Ming Rang’s hand. “Be careful. If it gets out that you’re too close to a female online friend during the recording of the show, it’s not going to look good.”

Ming Rang chuckled with a hint of indifference , straightening up as he looked at him. “Where’d you go? Don’t tell me you just stayed in the practice room all this time only to come back now?”

Jiang Lian opened the wardrobe and began changing clothes, answering casually, “Just in the practice room.”

“Did you go help Lin Ye with his dance?” Ming Rang’s expression turned suspicious. “What, are you really taking to heart what he said about you hiding a phone and reporting you to the staff?” He teased, “Do the staff even have the guts to take your phone from you?”

“It’s not for that reason.” Jiang Lian smiled slightly, then casually pulled out a piece of chocolate from his pants pocket, tossing it to Ming Yang. “Want some chocolate?”

Ming Rang tore open the wrapper and took a bite, looking at him with confusion. “Where’d you get this sticky, sweet stuff from?”

Jiang Lian replied, “I got it from Lin Ye.”

Ming Rang’s expression slightly froze, and he finally caught on, the teasing in his eyes growing. “So, tell me, which gossip would be more shocking, the one about a trainee getting too close to a female online friend, or the one about a trainee forcing another trainee into an improper relationship?”

Jiang Lian didn’t answer directly. The image of Lin Ye flashed through his mind. After thinking for a moment, he replied calmly, “I don’t like forcing people. It’s better when it’s mutual.”